Addiction is the most severe and chronic stage of substance-use disorder in which there is a substantial loss of self-control as indicated by compulsive drug taking despite the desire to stop taking the drug as defined in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). In the United States, 8 to 10% of people with age 12 years or above are addicted to alcohol or other drugs; and cost of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs abuse exceeds $700 billion annually in terms of crime, lost work productivity and health care (Volkow, Koob, & McLellan, 2016). Current research findings support yoga and mindfulness as promising complementary therapies for treating and preventing addictive behaviors (Khanna & Greeson, 2013). Increasing well-designed clinical trials and experimental laboratory studies on smoking (Bock et al., 2014), alcohol dependence and illicit substance use (Reddy, Dick, Gerber, & Mitchell, 2014) support the clinical effectiveness and hypothesized modes of action underlying mindfulness-based interventions for treating addictions. Yoga practices such as hatha yoga, vinyasa yoga, Iyengar yoga, yoga nidra, pranayama and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) led to significant improvement in addictive behaviors compared to control interventions (Posadzki, Choi, Lee, & Ernst, 2014). Modes of yogic effects to overcome addictions may be attributed to reduction in addictive behaviors, eating & sleeping disorders, stress, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, psychosis; and improvement in self-awareness, emotional stability, self-satisfaction, overall health, motivation, self esteem, self confidence, emotional maturity, optimal thinking & behaviors needed to combat addiction (Sarkar & Varshney, 2017).
